A Dauntless Worthy Return
by Chelsea Sparxx
Summary: This story takes place three years following the incident in the Bureau. Based on the title, I am sure you can infer what the story is about. Basically, Tris returns with a past that is difficult to speak of and returns to dauntless, and more importantly, to Tobias. I am a huge fan of the series and wanted the story to continue. I hope you like it!


**Note from the Author: First off, I am not a writer. I am just a huge fan of the trilogy. I give all credit to the original author of the series. Veronica Roth, for the characters used and the storyline that this version is based off of. This story is taking place after allegiant...well, sort of. Like I said, I am just a fan that didn't want the story to end. This is my attempt, hope you like it! I will update the story frequently so check back in!**

I never thought this sight would be possible, it's been so long that even in the dark I can see the beauty of the city. The buildings lit up in contrast to the dark night sky. Gusts of wind pick up scattered leaves and power branches knocking against windows as I walk through empty streets. It's nearly 3 am, but I had no choice. I couldn't stay, but can I return?

Three years have passed since my "death," I didn't want to leave my home, my love and my family in dauntless. How can I face him? I never wanted to leave him, he should know that. Caleb should've told him that, I hope he did.

My quick pace walking into the city has slowed dramatically as I approach the train tracks. I smell iron seeping through the rust covered track as bright lights come closer. The familiar sound of a speeding train gliding on tracks takes me back to the choosing ceremony. Years of watching dauntless members jump on and off always amazed me, then the first day flooded my veins with adrenaline. Although the bruises counteracted my enthusiasm, there wasn't any other rush then jumping on and off a moving train. I look out over my past, I remember each area, and we passed the pier where I saw Tobias for the first time. Not as an instructor, but as a person, a man that I would shortly fall in love with after. Following the track past the Erudite compound sends a chill up my spine. Memories of being imprisoned haunted my dreams for a few nights when I returned to the faction less stationed in abnegation.

Then I see it, I forgot how freeing it looked, back on ceremony day I jumped off this train hand intertwined with Christina, now I am all alone. As I hit the gravel on the top of the building I approach the edge remembering the girl that didn't make it to the compound, he body was sprawled on the pavement, not prepared to be gone. As I turn around the hold stares back at me. I don't know what came over me that day, opened my mouth before realizing that I would be jumping off of a seven story building, just a foolish girl as Tobias would have put it.

I mentally count 1…2….3…Jump! The air quickly pushes up against my fingertips, I fall faster this time around with not having a full abnegation dress, shoes and shirt covering me. I land and bounce off of the net, a slight laugh escapes my lips remembering the first time I jumped, then the smile across my face slowly fades when the memory of my second jumps pops into mind. My father. He was brave. He sacrificed himself in this very compound, and now I'm back.

Leaving the net I make my way through the compound taking in all of the changes, and revisiting the past in some areas. I walk through the cafeteria remembering each time I sat down for a meal that scared the abnegation side of me, but transformed that portion into pure dauntless.

I'm stalling, I recognize that but as soon as I knock on his door, the perfect image and fantasy how everything will go will be taken away. I walk down the halls of the dormitory. I hoped he hadn't move, he doesn't seem like the type. Always secure with the bare minimum and a simple routine. I'm here, should I knock, I mean it's late, but he needs to know the truth.

I knock a few times and get no answer, a few more voices a stirring of someone followed by a few angry grunts. Before I know it, are eyes are locked on one another not even daring to look away. He looks puzzled confused and his mouth is slightly open. All I can muster up is "Hey…can I um come in for a second?" I say a bit shakily. He nods. His eyes continue to follow mine all the way to his couch. We sit opposite of one another, both of us finding the right words for this moment, as I am about to tell him everything, he speaks. "Is this real? Am I hallucinating? I saw your body, lifeless and cold. I remember that. Please tell me if I am dreaming!" Tears start to cloud my eyes thinking about all that he endeavored. He asked me not to leave him and I did. I abandoned him just like other family members of his. How can I explain to him that I didn't have a choice that I couldn't come back to him until now? I escaped for him. I am risking my life being here, but all that fear went away when his eyes locked on mine. Bluish-grayish coloring that brings me back to reality. "I am real, I'm alive. I am so sorry for the pain I caused you, I can imagine things were difficult. I was never dead, it was an allusion that I couldn't control" His eyes haven't left mine, as he struggles to formulate a sentence I decide to lay it on the line," Tobias, first off, I am sorry that it has taken me three years to return to you, I never wanted to leave you. Caleb was going into the lab for all the wrong reasons, despite his betrayal, he is still my brother and for my parents I chose to protect him. He would've been killed instantly and could have never completed the mission. During the attack, I was shot, but I remember strange figures injecting me with serum similar to the one in the erudite compound. When I woke up, I was locked in a room at a bureau near a city called Boston." A tear escapes my eyes and slides down my cheek. I don't want him to see me as weak, but every time I see him, I can't help but feel a pang of guilt eat at my chest.

"I tried to get answers, I was confused most of the time. I always remembered you. That's what kept me fighting, knowing that you had my heart. Every so often I was dragged into a lab setting and experiments of varying serums and tests were administered. They told me that I was beyond normal divergence. I was rare. If they could design a strong enough serum to suppress my control then the rest of the country would be under long lasting control cues. "He is focused on me, taking in each word and mentally processing it. As another tear falls, it is caught by his thumb. I look up as my face is cradled in one hand and his other is going for my hand. His searing touch brings a wave of calmness over me. "You don't have to tell me everything right now, it's late, and you need to sleep." Following his lead, I suppressed the flood of emotions waiting with the rest of my story. "I don't have anything to sleep in…" I asked. "Here, this should work," he said as a pair of his shorts and a t-shirt were gently placed in my hand. I wondered what was going through his mind, he must have questions. "Thanks." I say quietly, but loud enough for him to hear. Then we are facing each other once again, eye contact maintained before he interrupts the moment "You can change in the bathroom, you can sleep in my bed, and I'll sleep on the couch." "Oh you don't have to do," I countered. "It's okay, we can talk in the morning." "Okay" As he turned I summed all the courage I could gather to say "Hey Tobias, I still love you." He stared and took in the moment without responding for what felt like forever before saying, "I know, I love you too Tris." With those words, my walls began to crumble, I took in the moment before walking to the bathroom and changing for the night. I cautiously laid down in his bead, I felt guilty for sleeping in his bed when it is his property, it reminded me the night when peter attacked me. He was so attentive and gentle, it was when he slowly began showing me Tobias, not four. There I laid in his bed, smelling the scent of his sheets mixed with the aroma of the t-shirt he lent me and it hit me, the scent that I associate with safety, I was finally safe and more importantly finally free.


End file.
